1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cutting assembly for meat or other appropriate food products passing along a path of travel and comprises a modular cutting unit capable of being added to or removed from a processing line. The modular cutting assembly includes a blade assembly and a mating assembly which interact to perform a multipoint cutting procedure as the product passes along the path of travel and through a predetermined spacing between the blade and mating assemblies. A stabilizing assembly is structured to restrict displacement of the blade and mating assemblies relative to one another and an extracting assembly removes cut portions from between the cutting blades of the blade assembly once the cutting procedure has been completed.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many years, the food industry has relied on manual cutting for the cutting and other processing of meat products, wherein a larger piece of meat was reduced to smaller pieces of various sizes and configurations, dependent at least in part on the intended use of such reduced meat portions. However, it is well recognized that the manual cutting and processing of meat products is time consuming, labor intensive and lacks consistency in the size, shape, etc. of the final product.
Such inconsistencies are particularly common to smaller pieces or chunks of meat products when cut from a larger meat portion, wherein the smaller, typically cube-like pieces are used for different applications. Despite the recognized skill, an experience many butchers and like processing personnel demonstrate, there is still an overall lack of consistency in terms of size, weight, and other desirable characteristics of the smaller meat piece product. In addition to the disadvantages and problems as generally set forth above, processing personnel and butchers utilizing manual cutting techniques necessarily handle the food product extensively. These procedures frequently result in inherent sanitation problems and at least some dangers to the processing personnel.
In order to overcome problems of the type set forth above, attempts have been made to create automated cutting and/or meat/food processing systems which are structured to perform cutting and a variety of other processing features. While at least some of these automatic machines and/or systems are considered to be at least minimally operative for their intended purpose, consistency problems still exist in terms of the size, weight, shape, cut characteristics, etc. of the final product. Included in the aforementioned problems associated with known automated machines is the general inability to cut through heavy gristle and/or like muscle membrane. This inability frequently results in the processed pieces or portions still remaining attached by virtue of the failure to cut completely through existing gristle. Accordingly, many of the disadvantages associated with manual processing have been alleviated by such known automated processing equipment. However, problems still remain relating to the efficiency and reliability at which conventional automatic equipment performs as well as the consistency of the final product.
Therefore, there is a long recognized need in the food processing industry and more specifically in the area of meat cutting and processing for an efficient and effective automated processing assembly. Such an improved cutting assembly should be capable of accurately cutting meat into the desired shapes and sizes on a consistent basis while eliminating the above noted disadvantages associated with manual labor. Further, an improved and proposed cutting assembly should be structured so as to reliably and efficiently cut through heavy gristle, muscle membrane, etc., thereby eliminating any inconsistency problems and/or disadvantages commonly associated with known or conventional automatic cutting assemblies. Further, such an improved and proposed meat cutting assembly should be capable of timely processing large quantities of meat and other appropriate food products such as by passing the product along a defined path of travel. The versatility of such an improved cutting assembly would allow it to be an operative component of a more extensive processing line, where other processing steps may be performed on the product.
In addition, a preferred and proposed meat cutting assembly could be automated while being constructed into a modular unit efficiently disposable into and out of an operative position along the aforementioned path of travel, as a part of a processing line of other operative components. The modular meat cutting assembly as proposed and improved should include various self-contained operative features including a stabilizing assembly interconnected to various operative components of the modular cutting assembly so as to maintain accurate cutting of the food product being processed. In addition, such a preferred and proposed modular cutting assembly should be capable of accomplishing a preferred multipoint cutting procedure in order to facilitate an accurate cut and consistency in the cut meat product.
Finally, such a proposed and improved meat cutting assembly should include an overall design and structure which enables a continued functioning of the cutting assembly even under relatively harsh operating conditions.